Suit Alleging Second Sexual Assault Victim of Ex-haverhill Priest Announced in Front of Church

By Mike LaBella
The Eagle-Tribune
October 8, 2015

http://www.eagletribune.com/news/haverhill/suit-alleging-second-sexual-assault-victim-of-ex-haverhill-priest/article_eea9e3dd-b9f1-58e4-9e45-e2bf9507dbc4.html

Former Haverhill priest Kelvin Iguabita is escorted into Lawrence Superior Court prior to his sentencing in 2003.

The president of a nonprofit agency providing services to victims of sexual abuse was in Haverhill late Thursday morning to publicly announce details of a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of a woman who, as a child, was allegedly sexually assaulted by a former priest at All Saints Church.

Robert Hoatson, co-founder and president of Road to Recovery Inc., stood on the sidewalk outside All Saints Church, 120 Bellevue Ave., next to a Methuen man who said he is building up the courage to publicly announce he was the victim of sexual abuse by a priest as well.

Hoatson said the lawsuit filed on behalf of the woman alleges Kelvin Iguabita, a former All Saints priest convicted in 2003 of raping a 15-year-old girl on the church property, also sexually assaulted another victim when she was 5 years old.

The suit, being brought against the Archdiocese of Boston, says Iguabita assaulted the younger girl from 1999 to 2001. The suit says the victim is now 21.

Hoatson said as a result of the woman's courage in coming forward, Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian filed the court complaint indicating two priests from the Archdiocese failed to properly supervise Iguabita, which allowed him to become a threat to the younger girl.

The complaint identifies those priests as: the Rev. William Murphy, currently bishop of Rockville Centre in Long Island, N.Y., who was the first assistant to Cardinal Bernard Law; and the Rev. Paul Miceli, currently dean of seminarians at John XXIII Seminary in Weston and former secretary of ministerial personnel under Cardinal Law.

Hoatson said Murphy and Miceli were responsible for the assignment, supervision and retention of priests in the Boston Archdiocese at the time of the alleged sexual assault on the young girl.

"We're here today to applaud this woman," Hoatson said Thursday morning outside All Saints Church.

He said he hopes the woman can recover from the abuses caused by Iguabita.

Hoatson introduced Billy Giblin, 47, of Methuen, who announced he is trying to summon the strength to come out publicly with his story of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest that he said is still active in a Catholic church in the region.

"I deal with it every day and it's not an easy thing," Giblin said.

Contact: mlabella@eagletribune.com